My maiden name is Testorff, so this is the perfect name to feature for this week's Surname Saturday. The downside is that I can't really share any cool tidbits about that particular surname's meaning, because I am having trouble finding anything! But here's what I do know about my Testorff roots...
My 3rd great grandfather, Christian Tesdorf, was born on November 2, 1819 in Germany. He married his wife, Sophia in 1852. In October of 1872, Christian, Sophia, and 3 of their children, Carl, Ludwig. and Emilie, departed from Hamburg, Germany (via Le Havre, France) aboard the Holsatia and arrived in New York on November 7, 1872. They would settle in Leroy, Bremer County, Iowa and are enumerated there in the 1880 Census.
Louis August Ludwig Testorff was my 2nd great grandfather. Though he and his parents and siblings are listed in the Hamburg Passenger Lists with 'Tesdorf' as their surname, their surname was also seen at various times as Tessdorff, Tessdorf, and also Testorff.
Christian and Sophia both died in Bremer County, Iowa (in 1900 and 1894, respectively). My 2nd great grandfather, Louis (aka Ludwig) would marry his wife, Anna Meyer in Bremer County, and eight children there. Later, they moved to Labette County, Kansas, and then finally settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where they would live until their deaths.
So all I really know so far about my Testorff surname is that I have traced it back to my 3rd great grandfather, Christian, in Germany. I haven't gotten farther back than him in my Testorff line since German ancestry is a bit confusing. But hopefully one day I'll find even more Testorff/Tesdorf/Tessdorff origins in Germany, because I'd sure love to find out more about that part of my heritage.
